The current invention addresses the need for automatic pretzel making machinery that forms larger sized pretzels into the classic pretzel shape. The method shown offers a unique way of forming any size pretzel, however our development focus was production of larger gourmet pretzels. There has been much work in the so-called bulk bag bite size pretzels commonly sold in the grocery stores. However many of these production machines do not form the classic pretzel shape. The present invention automates the forming of the pretzel into the classic "child with folded praying arms shape" attributed to circa 610 AD. Because of the difficulty in forming this classic shape, many current automation techniques for bulk pretzel manufacture alter or simplify the shape of the pretzel to achieve the required production rates and capital costs.
The majority of the prior art and inventions cited offer methods, which are not the classic pretzel shape. Of the patents cited, the only ones which wind up with the classic shape are U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,766,663, 5,702,732, 5,556,660, 5,494,428, and 5,009,910. These cited patents use vastly different methods, some more suited to bulk manufacture of smaller pretzels, and some require large capital outlays because of the complexity of the equipment. Also if these cited methods were scaled up to produce the larger gourmet pretzels the resulting floor space and investment in capital equipment make these machines unusable for many point of sale production facilities. Prior art also cited in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,894,002 and 4,536,147 use an extruder to present the dough and some type of X-Y movement which limits the movement to produce only an altered pretzel shape.
The present invention combines modern automated forming techniques, which results in greater consistency of product, speed of production, with the classic 610 AD "hand formed" pretzel shape.